Mary married Milton Lafayette Lee June 14, 1885 in Saint George, Washington County, Utah, as his second wife, but they did not ever live together.

Their three children are:

Wallace Cox, born May 22, 1888 at St. George and died March 20, 1896. Because he was born prematurely, he never learned to walk. Sick and fragile, he never developed as he should have done.

Rose Edith, born November 7, 1889 at St. George, Utah. (She married John T. Jarvis Septem­ber 14, 1909).

Lafayette Cox, born July 31, 1894 at St. George, Utah (He married Pearl Mortensen. Soon after Lafayette's marriage he and his wife were called on a mission to Japan, where they spent four years. Two of their six children were born while serv­ing on that mission.)


Three months before Mary Cox Lee's son, Lafayette, was born, her husband came to her in a dream and said that he had been called on a mission. He hurried away without telling her what the mission was. A few days later the telegraph operator came with the message that Bishop Lee had died of inflammation of the bowels.

Mary worked hard with her garden attempting to make a living for her two children.

Before his death, her husband had suggested that she study midwifery. Therefore, when she saw an advertisement of a school to be held in Salt Lake City, she left her children with their mother and went to the city. There she worked to pay her way through school and graduating with high marks after six weeks training, she returned to St. George and began her practice. Immediately she was welcomed as a midwife and had all the work she could do. Many times she would go to outlying towns to help women deliver their babies. Once when she was in Hinckley, the Brethren asked her to come there to practice because their mid-wife had died. She accepted the invitation.

Living first in a tent, she gradually gathered around her many of the comforts of life. She bought a lot, built a house, and eventually purchased a farm. At first she walked, then rode a horse to her cases, but later she obtained a buggy. The time came when her brother, Warren gave her a car.

Mary lived in Hinckley for forty-seven years, delivered 426 babies and helped the doctors with 126 more.

Much of the time in her later years she spent in Salt Lake where she worked in the Temple. During her later years, she not only had the opportunity of riding in trains and cars, but she also flew in airplanes.

Being a vigorous woman, she always kept a garden. Her flowers were the envy of all who saw them. However after she was 80 she developed a heart ailment which caused her to black out. In spite of this she continued to be an independent woman.

Until 1954 Mary continued to do Temple work, staying with her son Lafe or daughter Rose, whose residence was about a mile from the Temple. Weather permitting she would walk to the Salt Lake Temple, do two endowments and return on foot. She was an active woman and enjoyed walking. About the middle of March, Lafe would take her to her modest home in Hinckley, to prepare her garden. Many homes having sorrow, sickness or death were visited. One man spoke of her as an "Angel of Mercy."

In September 1956, Mary was persuaded to leave her home at Hinckley and move to Lafe's (Lafayette Cox Lee), home at Salt Lake City. Neighbors felt that she should not live alone any more. Ill health developed and increased. Though competent medical help was obtained, bladder infection caused her death on Jun 7, 1957, eighty-nine years and six months of age. Funeral services were at Hinckley Ward Chapel and burial in Hinckley Cemetery, June 10, 1957.